Turnpike: $200K a year for little-used call boxes

By MATT BELANGER, WTAE-TV

Friday, May 10, 2013

HARRISBURG, Pa. — At a time when the Pennsylvania Turnpike is facing more than $7 billion in mounting debt because of mandatory funding for other state transportation projects, an investigation found that turnpike officials are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain a system used by a small percentage of drivers on the toll road, WTAE-TV reported.

When drivers enter the turnpike, signs alert them to the fact that emergency call boxes are located at every mile of the toll road. There are more than 1,000 of the boxes, originally installed in the 1980s. But now that more drivers have cellphones, the boxes are being used much less. In fact, the turnpike also has signs posted urging drivers to dial (asterisk)11 on a cellphone in case of emergency while traveling on the turnpike.

According to data obtained by the station, in 2000, call boxes were activated 18,571 times. In 2012, they were activated only 1,717 times. That same year, drivers made an estimated 190 million trips on the toll road.

Inside the boxes you won’t find a phone. In fact, you can’t talk to anyone. Drivers can only choose to press one of four buttons: service, police, medical or accident. When the box is activated, it sends a radio signal to the turnpike’s operations center outside Harrisburg. Drivers are instructed to wait 30 minutes for help to arrive.

“That signal will pop up and the dispatcher will know what type of help to call,” said turnpike spokesperson Carl DeFebo.

DeFebo says the turnpike spends about $200,000 each year maintaining the 25-year-old system. In fact, the agency employs several workers to primarily service the call boxes. Using that figure, the per-use cost of the call box system in 2012 was $116.

“I think they’re totally unnecessary,” Lydia Oppman told the station. She had stopped at the turnpike’s Oakmont service plaza in Allegheny County.

“That’s an awful lot and most people have cellphones and if you don’t have one and you have an accident, I would think someone else would call for you,” said Charlene Wilcoxon, an Ohio resident who was traveling through Pennsylvania on the turnpike.

“Our intention now is to maintain these call boxes and keep them as a service,” DeFebo said, even at more than $100 per call.

“It’s very difficult, Matt, to put a cost on that safety net,” DeFebo replied.

Turnpike officials say the call boxes can still serve as vital links to help in cases of emergency for drivers who may not have cellphones or when phones aren’t working for some reason. But others in Harrisburg say the best call is for the boxes to be removed.

“It’s really just something that’s past its time,” said state Rep. John Lawrence, R-Chester.

Lawrence says one of the reasons the boxes remain is they are written into state law. Lawrence is drafting a bill to change the law to allow the turnpike to remove the boxes. He says as the turnpike uses rising debt as justification for annual toll increases drivers have to pay, the agency should be taking steps to save money in all areas of operation.

“There’s no need for it. Everyone has a cellphone and if you don’t certainly someone driving by will have a cellphone,” Lawrence said.

With other pressing state issues in Harrisburg, it’s unclear whether Lawrence will be able to find enough support to pass his bill. And even if state law is changed to allow the turnpike to remove the boxes, members of the turnpike Commission ultimately have final say about whether the system is removed. Additionally, removing the call boxes would cost the turnpike an estimated $500,000.